Aston Villa are determined to demand a minimum £25 million for wantaway
forward Christian Benteke in an attempt to repel interest from Tottenham
Hotspur and Chelsea.

Benteke has stunned Villa by handing in a transfer request and is ready to leave less than 12 months after his £8 million arrival from Genk, in a move that is likely to kick off one of the transfer sagas of the summer.

The Belgium international has not travelled with the squad to Germany and has made it clear he will not sign the contract extension that was offered him to last month - a deal that would have doubled his current £20,000 a week salary.

Benteke's bombshell has damaged the feel-good factor created by a substantial squad revamp by manager Paul Lambert this summer but Villa are ready to play hardball and insist they will dictate the future of the 22-year-old.

He still has three years remaining on the contract he signed last summer and it could require up to £30 million to convince owner Randy Lerner to part with his latest prize asset.

Villa are mindful that clubs including Spurs and Chelsea - despite the latter's vast wealth - will be reluctant to pay such a hefty fee for a player with only one Premier League season under his belt, even though he scored scored 23 goals in 39 appearances.

Their stance has been strengthened by their disappointment in the conduct of Benteke's agent, Eris Kismet, who they believe to be hugely influential in Monday's shock development.

Benteke is understood to favour Spurs as a preferred destination, though other clubs including Atletico Madrid and Fiorentina could now register their interest.

However, after the controversial departures of James Milner, Ashley Young, Gareth Barry and Stewart Downing in recent years, Villa are desperate to call the shots and are quietly confident that Benteke could still be their player in September.

A Villa statement read: "Having received his transfer request, we have also informed him that should we receive an offer within an appropriate timeframe during preseason which meets our valuation we would act upon it.

"But he will remain a Villa player should this not happen. He was reminded that there are three years remaining on his contract, we consider him to be a Villa player and expect that he will be with us for the 2013-14 season."